Israel Matzav

Goldstone implementation committee in 'disarray'

Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.

You will recall that Christian Tomuschat, who chaired the committee to implement the recommendations of the hopelessly biased Goldstone report on Operation Cast Lead resigned last week. Now, it looks like a second member of the three-member panel is also going to resign. And the committee is described as being in 'disarray.'

Following criticism of the Goldstone Report for its anti-Israel bias, critics had hoped that the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, would appoint a more balanced committee; however, no sooner had the appointments been made when questions swirled over the impartiality of Tomuschat. The Swiss based non-governmental organization UN Watch issued a report that stated Tomuschat had performed legal work for Yasser Arafat, "had frequently compared Israeli actions with the "barbarism" and "inferno" of World War II; and had repeatedly accused Israel of "state terrorism."

Fox News asked Tomuschat about the accusations of an anti-Israel bias and he responded in an email saying in part,"I have no comments to make on my decision not to accept a new mandate as member of the Committee of Experts regarding investigations into violations in Gaza." He referred Fox News to his letter to the Human Rights Council president which reads in part, "Let me point out to you that I do not feel deterred by specific attempts to discredit my impartiality and objectivity. These attempts could rather have led me to brush aside my reservations."

Anne Bayefsky, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and Touro College tells Fox News,"The committee is now in disarray, despite the best efforts of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and the UN Human Rights Council to create a second monstrosity following the initial outrageous report of Richard Goldstone himself ",

Bayefsky's comments follow the announcement that a second member of the committee is also stepping down. A spokeswoman from the UN Human Rights Council told Fox News that Param Cumaraswamy, a Malaysian national, was "unable to serve as a member of the Committee under the renewed mandate."

Bayefsky says that, "Tomuschat and company jumped at the chance to spend some time at UN center stage by repeating the Goldstone blood libel and sidestepping criticism of Hamas. With their biases fully exposed and their reputation as serious lawyers suffering, however, they jumped ship."

The committee is supposed to present its next report in March 2011. So far no replacements have been named.

Heh.

Labels: Christian Tomuschat, Goldstone Report, Operation Cast Lead, United Nations Human Rights Council

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:23 PM